Happiness is Bittersweet
by SibunAmber
Summary: Truly loving someone was wanting them to be happy, even if it's not with you. In this moment, Nico had never understood the phrase more.


**Hey** **guys! I'm back and on a new computer, that I've named Alex. My old netbook was over four and a half years old and died the other day (RIP Charlie) but now I have my new baby that is super cool. Anyway, just a one shot I wrote instead of reading **_**Alas, Babylon**_** for school. Hope you enjoy! Oh and I'm sorry for any mess ups and how rushed the end is. I technically should be asleep right now but I'm uploading this. Anyway, I love you, don't forget to review. Enjoy!**

******POST GIANT WAR******

He at a table in the back of the room as Percy wrapped his arm around Annabeth while they laughed. He saw Percy's head turn and kiss Annabeth's cheek in a way that made the others aww while Nico sat in the corner, trying not to burst into tears or yell.

The couple had been inseparable after Tartarus and this night was no exception. As Nico sat watching them be all 'coupley' he felt a weird feeling. He knew Percy would never like him the same way he liked Percy, but in the moment he almost didn't care. Sitting there watching them, he could see that Percy was truly happy.

Truly loving someone was wanting them to be happy, even if it's not with you.

In this moment, Nico had never understood the phrase more.

As a child he was content. That is, until his mother died. Then in the lotus hotel he was happy, oblivious, but happy all the same. It was fine in west over, Bianca always by his side, being the older sister who he loved so much.

And then, his reality hit.

His sister left him to join a group of eternal maidens, leaving him with three people who just got their friend chucked off a cliff. He didn't mind at first, but then he started talking to Percy and that was the moment in which he knew he was completely and utterly screwed.

He knew he shouldn't think of Percy as anything more than a friend, but then again, he didn't know how to treat a friend. The only one he ever had had just left him, and now he was all alone, confused and scared.

What was he supposed to do now? His sister never really talked to Nico the way she used to. It was often interrupted by the other hunters and even in the small moments they had, she wasn't the same Bianca, the Bianca who had cared for him once they departed from the lotus casino. She was a stranger, and yet she was still the same.

When she left he was heartbroken, but was given more reassurance when the son of Poseidon had promised her safe return. He promised she would be okay.

He lied.

Nico didn't know what to do. He had just lost the only person who ever truly knew and cared for him, and he was furious at Percy. But he hated how he couldn't remain angry for long.

He tried to pretend he hated Percy, that he was an awful person. But he just couldn't.

And it killed him.

He ran away, thinking that maybe he could run away from his life, from himself. But as the journey wore on, he grew tired and never could rid himself of the pain and grief. One night as he ran he settled beneath a tree in some park in the middle of a small town in Maryland. He sat and, after a few days in the underworld and working on his shadow traveling, he was tired. But the sleep brought on more pain.

That was the first night he let himself cry. He let everything out all the pain and agony he had been bottling up since the quest had ended and he learned of his sister's death. He let it all go. And yet he still felt awful.

He was all over the place for the next year. And then, come summer time, he became acquainted with a certain dead king who was going to help him get his sister back. He knew she would be mad, that she wouldn't want to disrupt death but in those moments he didn't care. He knew should would be angry, but that shadowed in comparison to having her back.

When it failed, he had been even more heart broken. After talking to Percy on the terrace (and eating some of the cake) he felt a little bit better, felt like someone actually cared. When Percy listened to his plan to dip in the river Styx, he felt proud that he had been of use.

He stayed with his dad for a while after Percy had gone to prepare for battle. He had seen how camp was doing and he grew worried. When it seemed that the war was being lost, he talked his dad into helping, not just for the camp, but for the moment he hoped would come after the war when people would finally recognize him.

Fast- forward to Percy's arrival at Camp Jupiter, there he stood staring as one of the only people he liked was standing in front of him. Percy had been missing for quite some time now, as had Nico, who set out to find Percy.

And the son of Poseidon didn't even know his name.

The war had been hard, but in the end, the demigods prevailed.

Here they all sat, celebrating the end of the war. And Percy seemed truly happy as him and Annabeth sat, side by side as always, just taking pleasure in each other's company.

And in the end, love was being happy that the person they loved was happy. Maybe he would never have Percy, but at least the older boy was happy.

It hurt Nico, but in the same moment, he was content, set in his bittersweet moment.

He rose from his seat and walked out of the dining pavilion, only looking back to mentally say goodbye.

And with that, he was gone.


End file.
